Steve Smith returned from a knee injury to score a game-high 33
points as the streaking Atlanta Hawks won their third straight,
101-96, over the slumping Cleveland Cavaliers at Georgia Tech's
Alexander Coliseum.

The All-Star guard, who had fluid drained from his knee last
week and missed two games, has scored 95 points in four wins
against the Cavaliers this season. He shot 12-of-17 from the
field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, leading Atlanta to
its sixth straight win in the series.

"It's hard to beat a team four times," said Atlanta coach Lenny
Wilkens. "I give them (Cavaliers) credit. They didn't quit.
They didn't give up. They kept playing hard. But we did what
we had to do."

The Hawks led Cleveland, 83-80, with 4:51 left but Smith, who
recorded his fourth 30-point game of the season, scored four
points during a 9-0 run, helping Atlanta to a 92-80 lead with
under three minutes to play.

The Cavs would scrap their way to within three points on a
number of occasions but could not keep the Hawks off the
free-throw line, where Smith and Tyrone Corbin combined to sink
four down the stretch.

"We definitely played pretty well," said Smith. "We didn't
shoot our free throws well until the end. But we just went out
and got the win."

Alan Henderson totaled 17 points and 13 rebounds for Atlanta,
which converted 28-of-42 from the line (66.7 percent),
attempting 23 more free throws than the Cavs (12-of-19).

Dikembe Mutombo scored 10 points and matched a season best with
19 rebounds for the Hawks, who outrebounded Cleveland, 61-33,
setting a season high. Atlanta, though, committed 20 turnovers
to the Cavaliers' nine.

"I thought we played real well for most of the game," Wilkens
added. "But when you get up, you can't think the game's over.
They started pressing and trapping and we were slow getting into
our offense against that."

Cleveland All-Star forward Shawn Kemp, who averaged 20.3 points
in the previous three games against Atlanta, was held scoreless
until 1:46 was left in the third quarter. He finished with just
eight points and fouled out with 3:37 to go.

"(I) just couldn't get it going today," said Kemp. "There
wasn't nothing going out there for me. ... They did a great job
early on the double team. They did what they had to do to take
the ball out of my hands."

"You concentrate on the guy (Kemp) that's their key guy," said
Corbin, who was one of several players to defend Kemp. "You
want to make things tough on him."

Atlanta led 57-53 in the third before outscoring the Cavs, 15-4,
to open up its biggest lead of the game, 72-57. Mookie Blaylock
scored seven of his 18 points during the burst and Mutombo added
six, capping the run on two free throws with 2:31 left in the
period.

Derek Anderson sparked the Cavs with 14 points in 30 minutes off
the bench as Cleveland responded with a 13-4 spurt to cut the
deficit to 76-70 three minutes into the fourth quarter.

"I thought that the group at the end really played hard and
fought and scrapped it back into a competitive game," said
Cleveland coach Mike Fratello. "We weren't getting it done with
the first group. We just had to find a way to make it happen."

Smith, who added eight rebounds and five assists, started
slowly, hitting his first field goal 7:18 into the game, but
closed the first quarter with 10 points as the Hawks gained a
22-20 edge.

Atlanta, which improved to 20-2 when scoring at least 100
points, has won six of its last seven games and trails Charlotte
by just one game for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks, who are 10-1 at Georgia Tech this season, have broken
the 100-point barrier on six of their last seven games and
9-of-12, posting an 8-4 mark in that span.

Wesley Person scored 26 points and Brevin Knight added 16 and
seven assists for the Cavaliers, who keep their tenuous hold on
the eighth spot in the East, one-half game in front of Orlando.
They are 5-11 in their last 16 games and have dropped five
straight on the road.

Atlanta guard Drew Barry, who set a career high with 10 assists
in Friday's 115-94 win over Denver, left the game early in the
second quarter with a sprained right ankle and did not return.
He is listed as day-to-day.